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Kim Possible Wiki:Manual of Style
Article Information Policy The Kim Possible Wiki is meant to be a professional, encyclopedic source for all things dealing with the show Kim Possible. Therefore, when writing or editing an article there are a few things to keep in mind. Canon Only information which is considered to be canonical should be placed in the article. There are two source of canonical information considered valid at the Kim Possible Wiki: #Information gathered from the material itself (shows, games, books, etc.) is considered canon. Although, the canons are not considered to mix. For example, information from games is not considered as canon within the larger context of the show itself. #Information obtained from the series creators (Mark McCorkle, Bob Schooley, Steve Loter, Chris Bailey etc.) will be considered canon as long as it fulfills two criteria. ##It is obtained from a legitimate first-hand and/or second-hand source. ##The information must not contradict information presented in the show itself. If it does then despite what the creators say it is not considered canon. Information gathered from fan created works, otherwise known as fanon, is not considered canon. Refer to the Kim Possible Wiki:FAQ for a discussion of non-canon issues that keep reappearing. Exception: A limited amount of non-canonical information can be placed in the Trivia section if it is relevant enough to the article to warrant inclusion. Clarity While many of the contributors to the Kim Possible Wiki are fans of the show and have not only watched all of the shows, but in some cases studied them, all articles should be written as if the reader has never seen a single episode of Kim Possible. Assumptions about what is "apparent" or "obvious" should always be carefully scrutinized to ensure that it is apparent or obvious to a reader with no prior knowledge of the show. Relevance Only what is relevant to the subject of the article should be placed in that article. Any additional information not directly related to the article should be placed in the appropriate subject's article. If the subject's article doesn't exist then one should be made. Referencing Policy :Main article: Reference policy The Kim Possible Wiki strives for professional quality. Part of a professional resource is a coherent referencing policy. To help facilitate this goal a reference policy has been created. Please refer to this policy page for details on the policy and helpful examples of the code used to create a reference that is in accordance with the Manual of Style. Citation Needed If you are editing an article and run across some information that you question or do not see a reference for you can place the (citation needed tag) where a reference tab should be. Media Policy :Main article: Media policy The Kim Possible Wiki strives for a media rich feel, while maintaining a clean appearance. To help facilitate this goal a media policy has been created. Please refer to this policy page for details on the policy used to create an article with the proper amount and type of media that is in accordance with the Manual of Style. The media policy also outlines the proper naming and documentation required for media posted to the Kim Possible Wiki. Layout Style Guide :Main article: Layout policy The Kim Possible Wiki strives to maintain a standardized formatting for their articles. To help facilitate this goal a layout policy has been created. Please refer to this policy page for details on the policy and helpful examples of the code used to create an article layout that is in accordance with the Manual of Style. Spacing :Main article: '' Web pages do not look the same for everyone. Different web browsers will display things different from one another. For example, Firefox may show a sentence wrapping around a picture while Safari does not. Internet Explorer 8 will show a transparent background in a PNG picture while Internet Explorer 6 does not. Monitor sizes and resolutions will also affect how much can be seen at one time. A 15" monitor isn't as wide as a 19" monitor, so web pages will be longer on a 15" monitor than they will on the 19" monitor. Pages on a 19" monitor can also be longer if the resolution is set low. For example, 800x600 instead of 1280x1024. When editing an article, use the following rules: * Put one blank line in between paragraphs. * Put two blank lines if you need to separate things with a little more space, such as certain templates. * Larger spacings should be created with different commands rather than adding more blank lines. Writing Style Guide Language All articles in the ''Kim Possible Wiki are to be written in English. Form of English Since the show is based on an American setting when there is a difference between Americanized English and other forms of English, then the Americanized form shall be used. This is most notable with American versus other English terms. Examples might include, but are not limited to: * elevator vs lift * airplane vs aeroplane * cookie vs biscuit * hood vs bonnet (relating to a car) * soccer vs football * diaper vs nappy * Home Economics vs Family Studies Accessibility To make the Kim Possible Wiki as accessible to international and younger viewers, keep your writing at around a 6th Grade reading level and use clear and concise language. Professionalism We are compiling a professional resource for Kim Possible fans. As such keep your writing as professional as possible. In particular pay attention to the following guidelines: * Do not use slang. This includes both netspeak and fanon slang terms such as Kigo. * Avoid abbreviations in articles. ** If the usage of abbreviations is necessary or beneficial to the legibility of the article be sure to place the meaning of the abbreviation after the first usage. For example, "The first visit to GJ's (Global Justice) facility..." * Avoid the usage of contractions. **Contractions give the articles a casual and unprofessional feel. Contractions can also be confusing to younger readers or non-native English speakers. **The exception to this rule is in direct quotes. If the quote included a contraction than use the contraction. * Vary your words. ** When writing, try to vary the words you use and the length of your sentences. Spelling *Know the difference between homophones. Examples might include, but are not limited to: ** there, their, and they're ** here and hear ** it's and its ** who's and whose *Use the American versus the British spellings of words. Examples might include, but are not limited to: ** color vs colour ** fiber vs fibre ** theater vs theatre ** paralyze vs paralyse ** catalog vs catalogue Point of View Pages on the Kim Possible Wiki are written from an in-universe point of view as if the person, object, or event actually existed or occurred, when appropriate. *Because the passage of time is unclear and some episodes occur out of chronological order, it may sometimes be difficult not to refer to another episode by name. You should strive to use language that would be in-universe in order to avoid it whenever possible. The best way to avoid naming an episode is to describe the events of the episode such as, "On the day Ron became the Mad Dogs' mascot." Real World Point of View The real world point of view applies to articles that that are written about production personnel, actors, some songs, or other series information which are not part of the Kim Possible universe. They should be written the same as a standard encyclopedia entry in present day. For all articles where it is necessary to include a link to an external site for a real-world article, use italics for books, movies and songs. Use regular text for all other links. Examples: :* Google — non-italicized link :* Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs — italicized link to the movie article Episodes Episode articles are a blend of the in-universe and real world points of view. Summaries may be written in present tense and in a novelization style if desired but should otherwise maintain an in-universe point of view. Infoboxes and all other sections are written from the real world point of view. The intro will be a brief and general summary on the article; if it is a season finale, season premiere, or series premiere, then please note after that intro summary in parenthesis and italics. :Use: "Kim and Ron are sitting at Bueno Nacho enjoying their lunch..." :Instead of: "The episode begins with Kim and Ron sitting at Bueno Nacho enjoying their lunch..." :Use: "Meanwhile, Shego breaks out of prison with the help of Señor Senior, Junior." :Instead of: "We cut to Shego breaking out of prison with the help of Señor Senior, Junior." Grammar and Punctuation When writing articles it is important to follow the rules of the English language. Tense Use tense the same way a standard encyclopedia would. Capitalization *Capitalize the first word of every sentence. (e.g. Ron opens his pants pocket, Rufus pops up, stretches and yawns.) *Capitalize proper nouns. (e.g. Ann Possible) *Capitalize the first, last, and important words in a title. (e.g. "Attack of the Killer Bebes") For a full list visit [http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/capitals.htm Capital Community College's ''Guide to Grammar and Writing] Punctuation Use correct punctuation. This includes: * commas * periods * quotation marks * apostrophes. In addition to basic punctuation, it is important to know how to punctuate titles. Episode titles are inside quotation marks, while series or movie titles are in italics. Italics Italics are used for large works like movies, television series, books, songs and albums. For Example: *''Kim Possible'' *''Global Gemini (game)'' To use italics on Wikia place two single quote marks before and after the title: :Kim Possible These are single quotes ('), not double quotes ("). Alternately, highlight the title you want to put in italics with your mouse and click the "I''" button in the toolbar above the edit box (in between the B for bolding and AB for the Internal link). Quotation Marks Quotation marks are used to enclose things that are part of a larger work, such as episodes. For Example: *"Bad Boy" A shortcut to add quotation marks around a title is to click on the set of quotation marks in the Edit Tools below the edit box. This will put a set of quotation marks into the edit box. You can also highlight a title and click the quotation marks to add them. This works with many of the other items in the Edit Tools box. Links To link to another article inside the ''Kim Possible Wiki, you must put [[]] around it. To link to an article in Wikipedia, use wikipedia: and put the article title inside. If an article does not exist by that name, the link will show up as dark red, like this. External links will show up as blue. You only need to link to another article once in any given article. Most of the time this is the first time that article's title comes up, but there are some exceptions to this. For Example: *Kim Possible *an article about grappling hooks Infoboxes Do not link to another article inside of an Infobox. Everything inside the Infobox should also be in the article itself and this is where it should be linked. Episode Pages *Do not link to another article during the introductory section that appears prior to the Table of Contents. *In the Memorable Quotes section, link to an article the first time it appears even if it has been linked to previously. *In the Cast section, each actor and character should be linked to. Links to Characters When referencing a character, a majority of the time they can be referred to by just their first name, e.g., Kim instead of Kimberly Ann Possible. To assist with creating links inside articles, redirects have been established for the characters with unique names (Kim, Ron, Bonnie, etc.). Some unique names like "Drakken" have also been assigned redirects. This reduces the amount of typing without affecting the appearance of a link. For Example: *'Kim' works just the same as Kim Possible and Kim *'Drakken' works just the same as Dr. Drakken *'Nana Possible' works just the same as "Nana" Possible If it is necessary to have the link display something other than the title of the link, that information should be placed after the pipe (the vertical bar) inside the link: the bad doctor. Naming Articles :Main article: Kim Possible Wiki:Naming convention policy Episodes Episode articles are named for the episodes precisely as they are presented on official media, such as the DVDs, iTunes, or the official Disney website. Please note that it may be appropriate to create redirects from one or two common misspellings or mis-capitalizations of titles to make users' searches easier. Administrators may move articles without consultation when they don't conform to the Episode Naming Policy. Characters There are a few simple rules to follow when naming a character article. #Characters are named using first and last name if both are known, i.e. Ron Stoppable. #If a character's last name is not known from a canon source, then it is okay to use only a first name, i.e. Monique. #If a character's first name is not known from a canon source, then it is okay to use the last name preceded by a known title, i.e. Mr. McHenry. You may want to create redirects for common address of a character. For example: *Redirect Kim to Kim Possible *Redirect Drakken to Dr. Drakken *Redirect Nana Possible to "Nana" Possible Administrators may move articles without consultation if they do not conform to the Character Naming Policy. Other topics Other topics should always use lower case letters after the initial capitalization unless the word is always capitalized. For example: *Use List of songs instead of List of Songs *Use Possible family instead of Possible Family *Camp Wannaweep is correct because it is a proper noun. Note that Wikia handles capitalized words differently than lowercase words. Entering them into search will bring up two different articles. Song Lyrics Style Guide This section is still under construction! Articles for song lyrics include a summary of the episode(s) the song appears in, followed by the lyrics and any background or other information relating to the song. When typing the lyrics, follow this format: * If more than one person has lines in the song, preface the line where the singer changes with the person's name in bold. * The first time a person sings, include a link to their article. For all later instances, do not include links. * Spoken lines should be in italics. * Descriptions should be in parentheses and italics. * Capitalize the first letter on each line, even when it is the continuation of a sentence. * Lyrics usually do not include ending punctuation, such as the period at the end of a sentence, but it is recommended to use them. * Use a break (' ') at the end of each line in a verse and a blank line to separate verses. This will show where each verse begins and ends. * Dialogue that takes place during the song should be included. See also * *Category:Help Manual of Style Manual of Style